Friday, 26 May 2017

Legoland Windsor (UK) - so much fun!

We did it again! We went back to Legoland Windsor for our pre-summer mini-break.

Believe me when I say we gave the boys the opportunity to pick any other park in any other country (actually I was so looking forward to hear them say they wanted to visit Eurodisney, for a change...), but they were clear: we want to go to Legoland in UK.

OK then, off we went... for the third time in 5 years! And listen: on our way back, on the plane, both boys were already planning another visit next year!! Can you believe it? seriously, Legoland Windsor Resort Management Team: shouldn't we be considered VIP visitors by now? Maybe get free coffees when we visit?? Just leaving it there ;-)

The good thing about having been there before is that you learn from past experiences, so this time we decided to go for a 2 day stay. Chose Friday and Saturday, because the number of visitors on weekdays is considerably lower, so on Friday the kids could try all the attractions they wanted without having to bother about long and boring queues (the pic below was taken midday on Friday... nobody around!)

that is why we hopped on the Dragon rollercoaster maybe fifteen times during the day: the exercise you do going up all those stairs is extraordinary!

Also gave them the opportunity to take most of the pictures and videos (using our brand new GoPro) - much of the work you see in this post is theirs!, like this video that they filmed and helped edit:

Also good things is that the kids planned the visit themselves: what we had to see and in which order.... easy-peasy for the grown-ups! Amazing to swap roles from time to time ;-)

In between Dragon rides, we could see more things (thank God they let us see more things, because I have discovered that 10+ non-stop rollercoaster rides are too much for me!). Amongst many others:

The level of detail, the number of bricks used in each scene, the sounds, the movements of the figures... it's something that cannot be described: you need to see it, even if you are not a crazy Star War fan.

I know: having a Star War savvy beside you during the visit helps... a lot ("mum: this is from movie nr XX", "mum: this is the battle in planet XXXX", "mum: this is when XXX fights against XXX"...) But still, the work done there to recreate different scenes of the movie saga is absolutely outstanding

- Mia's riding adventure: were shocked when we tried this new (for us) attraction @ Heartlake City area because from the outside it looks sooo innocent...

well, let me tell you that it is thrilling!

I am sure the staff still remembers us shouting like crazy hugged to our horses as if there was no tomorrow when going round and round and up and down: a very intense experience, available to everybody at least 1.2m tall.

- The Vikings River Splash @ The Land of Vikings is a "wet" attraction, fun, but it doesn't turn your stomach upside down and even the people from outside who are not on the boats enjoy it. One of my boys had the time of his life shooting water to all the boats from the outside... we had to drag him out of the shooting spot after at least half an hour of pulling the trigger!

- We released adrenaline at the Laser Raiders attraction @ Land of the Pharaohs : super attraction to become Indiana Jones, shooting like crazy for a few minutes

and of course we got veeery wet! And we cannot say we were not warned... they told the public at the very beginning: you will get wet, and we laughed (probably they were laughing louder, thinking "poor innocents"!). Well, it happened: we got wet. Still, the show is superb, very entertaining for kids of all ages!!

And they did amazing things! See the last part of the show:

- Atlantis voyage @ Adventure Land is also a must. It is a journey underwater inside a fantastic Octonaut-like submarine. My kids always love it and are literally glued to the big submarine windows from beginning to end, because sharks will always be sharks...

There are of course many more attractions and things to do, but what I enjoy most is the "street art" of the resort.

The building possibilities of the Lego bricks are endless and what you see in Legoland Resort is just a proof. One could spend hours on end admiring each and every figure dispersed along the walking paths, outside each attraction, even beside the restaurants! They are works of art!

Take the example of this "little Iron Man"

that is made of 595,000 Lego pieces!

What I have noticed over the years is that my kids appreciate this now much more than when they were younger... and they stop looking at the figures and think out loud: how many bricks do you think they've needed to build this? or how long can it take to do this other? or is this built just with standard pieces? or how is it moving? could we build this with our pieces at home?

Our 2 day trip came to an end incredibly fast...now we have the pictures and we have started working on the wish-list for our nest mini break @Windsor Legoland resort. This list includes very high up staying at one of the 2 hotels of the resort, that we have not tried yet. Hopefully next year!